Muhammad Ali Rumble in the Jungle Win: How He Beat George Foreman Illustration for TIME by Robert Handeville An illustration from TIME's Sept. 23, 1974, fight preview The historic fight took place 40 years ago, on Oct. 30, 1974 When TIME sent Nairobi Bureau Chief Lee Griggs to Kinshasa in 1974 to preview the Oct. 30 boxing match that became known as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” it seemed clear that the winning money was not on the favorite. The bout between reigning champion George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, who had previously lost the title after refusing to be drafted into the military, came with the biggest purse in sports history. Both boxers were guaranteed at least $5 million but — though boxing fans worldwide, and especially in the country then called Zaire, were rooting hard for Ali — it seemed clear that Foreman would be the one going home with the title. He was younger and strong and on a winning streak. He would back Ali into the ropes, where the older boxer’s footwork would do no good. TIME’s sports editor Philip Taubman predicted that the result would be Foreman in six.

When the fight actually went down — 40 years ago Thursday, after a delay of about a month from its originally planned September date — that did not happen. Though Foreman went after Ali just as predicted, the results were far from what had been expected. Here’s what did happen, as TIME reported in the Nov. 11, 1974, issue: Then, in the second round, the bee unexpectedly threw away the tactics of his entire career. Off his toes and seemingly off his rocker, Ali stood along the ropes, exactly where Foreman wants an opponent to be. Indeed, with his customary authority, Foreman started pounding punches against Ali’s midsection. Some of Foreman’s blows glanced off Ali’s arms and gloves, and none hit Ali’s face, but it seemed to be only a matter of time before Ali’s belly would turn to pulp. Astonishingly, Ali seemed hardly concerned. As the fiercest puncher since Sonny Liston whaled away, Ali shouted taunts at Foreman. “You can’t hurt me!” Ali yelled. “You punch like a sissy.” Soon it became clear that Ali had constructed a trap.

All summer and fall he had been developing granite abdominal muscles with a grueling regimen of calisthenics, spending an hour every morning hardening his gut by doing sit-ups with his legs held up at a 45 degree angle or while his limbs were pumping back and forth in a bicycle-pedaling motion. Now he was simply letting Foreman punch himself out against that iron flesh. “I wanted to make him shoot his best shots,” said Ali later. That is precisely what Foreman did. In the sultry tropical night (the temperature was 86° and the humidity about 90%), Foreman’s punches soon lost power. Arm weary, he began to swing wildly, frequently missing entirely, spinning around on his own momentum like a worn-out drunk. Ali took advantage of Foreman’s slack defense by springing off the ropes time after time to jolt the bone-tired champ with lightning combinations to the head. By giving up on the “floating like a butterfly” that had made his career, Muhammad Ali won the match in the eighth round.

Read TIME’s run-up to the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ here, in the archives: Violent Coronation in Kinshasa Muhammad Ali wins the Rumble in the Jungle - Oct 30, 1974 - HISTORY.com Muhammad Ali wins the Rumble in the Jungle Share this: Muhammad Ali wins the Rumble in the Jungle Author Muhammad Ali wins the Rumble in the Jungle URL Publisher A+E Networks On October 30, 1974, 32-year-old Muhammad Ali becomes the heavyweight champion of the world for the second time when he knocks out 25-year-old champ George Foreman in the eighth round of the “Rumble in the Jungle,” a match in Kinshasa, Zaire. Seven years before, Ali had lost his title when the government accused him of draft-dodging and the boxing commission took away his license. His victory in Zaire made him only the second dethroned champ in history to regain his belt.

The “Rumble in the Jungle” (named by promoter Don King, who’d initially tagged the bout “From the Slave Ship to the Championship!” until Zaire’s president caught wind of the idea and ordered all the posters burned) was Africa’s first heavyweight championship match. The government of the West African republic staged the event—its president, Mobutu Sese Seko, personally paid each of the fighters $5 million simply for showing up—in hopes that it would draw the world’s attention to the country’s enormous beauty and vast reserves of natural resources. Ali agreed. “I wanted to establish a relationship between American blacks and Africans,” he wrote later. “The fight was about racial problems, Vietnam. All of that.” He added: “The Rumble in the Jungle was a fight that made the whole country more conscious.” At 4:30 a.m. on October 30, 60,000 spectators gathered in the moonlight (organizers had timed the fight to overlap with prime time in the U.S.) at the outdoor Stade du 20 Mai to watch the fight. They were chanting “Ali, bomaye” (“Ali, kill him”).

The ex-champ had been taunting Foreman for weeks, and the young boxer was eager to get going. When the bell rang, he began to pound Ali with his signature sledgehammer blows, but the older man simply backed himself up against the ropes and used his arms to block as many hits as he could. He was confident that he could wait Foreman out. (Ali’s trainer later called this strategy the “rope-a-dope,” because he was “a dope” for using it.) By the fifth round, the youngster began to tire. His powerful punches became glances and taps. And in the eighth, like “a bee harassing a bear,” as one Times reporter wrote, Ali peeled himself off the ropes and unleashed a barrage of quick punches that seemed to bewilder the exhausted Foreman. A hard left and chopping right caused the champ’s weary legs to buckle, and he plopped down on the mat. The referee counted him out with just two seconds to go in the round. Ali lost his title and regained it once more before retiring for good in 1981.

Foreman, meanwhile, retired in 1977 but kept training, and in 1987 he became the oldest heavyweight champ in the history of boxing. Today, the affable Foreman is a minister and rancher in Texas and the father of five daughters and five sons, all named George. He’s also the spokesman for the incredibly popular line of George Foreman indoor grills. Related Videos George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali - BoxRec George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali From BoxRec Jump to: navigation , search 1974-10-30 : George Foreman 220 lbs lost to Muhammad Ali 216½ lbs by KO at 2:58 in round 8 of 15 Location: Stade du 20 Mai, Kinshasa, Congo (Democratic Republic Of The) 1.6 Sources The Rumble in the Jungle "The Rumble in The Jungle" was a historic boxing match which took place on October 30, 1974 in the May 20 Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo).

It pitted then World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman against former champion and #1 contender Muhammad Ali , who became the second fighter ever, after Floyd Patterson , to regain the World Heavyweight Championship. The event was Don King 's first big venture as a boxing promoter. He managed to get both Ali and Foreman to agree to let him promote the fight if he could get them $5 million each. However, King did not have the money, so he began looking for an outside country to sponsor the event. Zaire's flamboyant president, Mobutu Sese Seko, asked for the fight to be held in his country, eager for the publicity such a high-profile event would bring. The fight was shown on closed-circuit television at about 450 locations in the United States and Canada and was seen in roughly 100 countries worldwide. The fight was scheduled to start at 4:00 a.m. in Zaire to accommodate audiences in the United States. Build up to the Fight Ali was stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship and suspended from boxing for three and a half years following his refusal to enter the U.S. Army in 1967.

He was able to regain a boxing license in 1970 and promptly fought two comeback fights, against Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena . The following year, Ali fought Joe Frazier for the World Heavyweight Championship in a bout dubbed the Fight of the Century , which Frazier won by a unanimous decision. Over the next three years, Ali stayed active against other contenders while he campaigned for another title shot. Foreman had quickly risen from his gold medal victory at the 1968 Olympics and into the top ranks of professional heavyweights. Although considered by many to be somewhat slow and clumsy, Foreman was greatly feared for his punching power, size, and sheer physical dominance. Still, Joe Frazier and his handlers believed that despite Foreman's ever growing list of knockout victories, he would be too slow and unrefined to stand up to Frazier's relentless attacks. This would turn out to be a grave miscalculation, as Foreman, a 3½ to 1 underdog, won the championship in grand fashion by knocking Frazier down six times in two rounds before the bout was stopped.

Foreman further solidified his hold over the heavyweight division with a second-round destruction of Ken Norton , who was the only man besides Frazier (at that point in time) to defeat Ali (breaking Ali's jaw in the process). By the time Ali and Foreman met, Ali had avenged his losses to both Norton and Frazier, but Foreman was an overwhelming favorite against a slowing and aging Ali. Foreman and Ali spent much of the summer of 1974 training in Zaire and getting their bodies used to the weather in the tropical African country. The fight was originally set to happen on September 24, but the fight was postponed after Foreman was cut during training. It was rescheduled for October 30. Ali was a very endearing figure to the people of Zaire and his mind games played out well, turning the Congolese people in his favor and against Foreman.

A popular chant leading up to, and during the fight, was "Ali bomaye!," which means "Ali, kill him!" The Rumble Insiders say that Foreman and his handlers actually prayed in his dressing room before the fight that Foreman would not kill Ali, so high was the anticipation that Ali was simply no match for Foreman. Ali came out dancing in the first round and Foreman went right at him. Ali made good use of the right-hand lead, catching Foreman several times. When Foreman got close, Ali tied him up. Before the end of the first round, Foreman caught up to Ali and began landing a few punches of his own. Foreman had been trained well to cut off the ring, preventing escape. At the beginning of the second round, Ali went to the ropes and covered up, letting Foreman punch at him. Ali would occasionally fire back with his own shots. The plan was to let Foreman punch himself out, a strategy Ali later dubbed the rope-a-dope. “Get away from the ropes,” Ali’s corner yelled.

Angelo Dundee , Ali's trainer, later said, “When he went to the ropes, I felt sick.” At the end of the second round, Dundee implored Ali to stay off the ropes. Ali waved him away and said, “I know what I’m doing.” "I didn't really plan what happened that night," Ali said. "But when a fighter gets in the ring, he has to adjust according to the conditions he faces. Against George, the ring was slow. Dancing all night, my legs would have got tired. And George was following me too close, cutting off the ring. In the first round, I used more energy staying away from him than he used chasing me. So between rounds, I decided to do what I did in training when I got tired." Foreman spent all his energy throwing punches (in an oven-like heat) that were mostly blocked by Ali or did not land flush. When Foreman did land flush, Ali was able to take it. "A couple of times, he shock me bad, especially with the right hand," Ali said.

"But I blocked and dodged most of what he threw, and each round his punches got slower and hurt less when they landed." When the two fighters were locked in clinches, Ali consistently outwrestled Foreman. He leaned on Foreman to make Foreman support his weight, and he held Foreman's head down by pushing on his neck, a move which is both disorientating and can heighten the effect of punches since it causes a greater snap in the neck when a fighter is hit. Ali also constantly taunted Foreman, telling Foreman to throw more and harder punches, and an enraged Foreman responded by doing just that. After several rounds, Foreman began to tire. Foreman was staggered by an Ali combination at the start of the fourth round and again near the end of the fifth, after Foreman had seemed to dominate much of that round. Although he would keep throwing punches and coming forward, after the fifth round, Foreman was very tired and he looked increasingly worn out. Ali continued to taunt him by saying "Hit harder! Show me something, George" and "That don't hurt.

I thought you were supposed to be bad." Finally in the eighth round, Ali landed the final combination, a left hook that brought Foreman's head up into position so Ali could nail him with a hard right straight to the face. Foreman staggered, then twirled across half the ring before landing on his back. Foreman got up but not quickly enough. The referee counted to ten and waved the fight over. Ten years after upsetting Sonny Liston and seven years after being stripped of the title, Ali had finally regained the World Heavyweight Championship. Foreman later claimed that the reason he took so long to get up was that he was looking over at his corner, waiting for their signal to get up, but they were slow to do so. "After the fight, for a while I was bitter," Foreman said. "I had all sorts of excuses. The ring ropes were loose. The referee counted too fast. The cut hurt my training. I was drugged.

I should have just said the best man won, but I'd never lost before so I didn't know how to lose." "The Rumble in the Jungle" has since become one of the most famous fights of all time, due to Ali regaining the title in a huge upset and developing the rope-a-dope. It is shown often on the ESPN Classic network. Cultural Influence The events before and during the fight are depicted in the Academy Award winning documentary When We Were Kings (1996). Due to his Parkinsonism, Ali had trouble walking to the stage to be part of the group receiving the Oscar and Foreman helped him up the steps. The documentary also showed the musical acts (James Brown, B.B. King, The Spinners, and Bill Withers, among others) who performed during a three-day musical showcase staged in advance of the championship bout. The biographical movie Ali (2002) depicts this fight as the film's climax. In the movie Rocky III (1982), Rocky uses a strategy similar to the rope-a-dope in his rematch with Clubber Lang. Norman Mailer wrote a book, The Fight, describing the events and placing them within the context of his views of African American culture.

George Plimpton covered the fight for Sports Illustrated and it is featured in detail in his book Shadow Box. The historical fiction novel, The Poisonwood Bible, mentions the fight. Johnny Wakelin wrote a song about the fight called In Zaire. The Fugees, A Tribe Called Quest, and John Forte wrote a song about the fight titled Rumble in the Jungle. The Hours also wrote a song about the fight titled Ali In The Jungle. The fight was ranked seventh in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments IN 2002. The fight was covered in an episode of ESPN Classic's The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame..., examining reasons why people shouldn't blame Foreman for losing. Awards 1974 Round of the Year (Round 8) - The Ring Quotes "George Foreman is nothing but a big mummy.

I've officially named him 'The Mummy.' He moves like a slow mummy, and there ain't no mummy gonna whup the great Muhammad Ali." - Muhammad Ali "If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait till I whup Foreman's behind." - Muhammad Ali "It will be a divine fight, a holy war...Armageddon on a miniature scale." - Muhammad Ali "All of my critics crawl! All of you suckers who write The Ring magazine, Boxing Illustrated ... all of you suckers bow!" - Muhammad Ali "I told you, all of my critics, I told you all, that I was the greatest of all times when I beat Sonny Liston. I told you today, I'm still the greatest of all times." - Muhammad Ali "I was the dope." - George Foreman on the rope-a-dope.

Sources Rumble in the Jungle: the night Ali became King of the World again | Sport | The Guardian Muhammad Ali Rumble in the Jungle: the night Ali became King of the World again In an exclusive extract from his new book on Muhammad Ali, Kevin Mitchell remembers the fight in Kinshasa 40 years on when George Foreman was defeated, and history rewritten Wednesday 29 October 2014 08.04 EDT First published on Wednesday 29 October 2014 08.00 EDT Share on Messenger Close When Muhammad Ali rumbled in the jungle with George Foreman exactly 40 years ago on Thursday, they were safely distant from the dying embers of a conflict that still engaged the more perilous commitment of 1.5 million of their compatriots in Vietnam. These champion pugilists, neither of whom fired a shot in defence of their flag, were sufficiently distracted by the lure of considerable riches to devote their full attention to the relative triviality of a fist fight, albeit one they would conspire to fashion as perhaps the most memorable in the history of their sport … Vietnam had begun to recede from the popular consciousness in America in the early ‘70s.

It was a reviled war, an embarrassment. Servicemen returning from their term of duty would land in San Diego and disappear into the hinterland rather than go home, finding refuge in drugs, alcohol or wretched anonymity. There were few homecomings, in fact, not many yellow ribbons tied around the old oak tree, the symbol of thanksgiving for sacrifice. This was the war America no longer wanted, and the young men who died latterly for its discredited cause in 1974 and ’75, when the final bell went, were in many cases abandoned as collateral damage. Back in Australia, I had just missed the draft for that misguided conflict and was well glad of it. But in a period of receding tumult, there was Ali still, the objector of conscience, punching and talking again. He had reclaimed his boxing licence (after being banished in 1967), dismissed Jerry Quarry in three one-sided rounds in October 1970, in Atlanta, the only place that would sanction the fight, and went on to rebuild the career he had been willing to sacrifice on behalf of the Nation of Islam.

There was a considerable hunger to see Ali, inspired initially by the vocal support of the college students who listened to his anti-war message while he was in exile, then sustained when his media friends returned to the fold, aggrieved on his behalf as the legal process dragged slowly on. Once reinstated, Ali looked pretty good for someone who’d been away for three-and-a-half years. Joe Frazier beat him in the Fight of the Century in 1971, but 13 wins of varying quality (including a low-key rematch victory over Frazier) and a split decision loss to Ken Norton followed over the next three years, and Ali, to the amazement of everyone but himself, was bigger box office than in his pomp. His revival, illusory though it might have been, suited everyone: the boxing public, the TV stations, the promoters and the rest of the heavyweight division. The sport had been dull in his down time; it needed his noise and his style. He was slower, of course, throwing more but heavier punches from a flat-footed stance, with less dancing. It seemed not to matter, none the less, that, by they time he reached Zaire, he was 32 and visibly diminished.

Not a single respected critic spoke up for him. He was 40-1 with some bookmakers and nearly every expert feared for his safety against the monster that was Foreman. Yet intellectuals and artistes across the board – from Hunter S Thompson to Norman Mailer to George Plimpton to James Brown – mixed with boxing’s regular cast of scoundrels. They came not so much to witness a legitimate world heavyweight title fight as to bathe in the glow of a legend who refused to leave the party, a hero who would surely provide them with a story, however sad. In one of the most bizarre settings for any boxing match – with a thunderous storm advancing, in a stadium in Kinshasa once used as an execution chamber for dissidents – Ali made such an impact he earned the right to be regarded again as King of the World. It was a surreal episode from start to finish, stretched over a couple of months through circumstance (a cut to Foreman’s eye in training), accompanied by a musical extravaganza, which was filmed brilliantly for posterity and no little profit.

Ali brought something special to every event, from walking into a room, to defying his government, to knocking out the awesome Foreman in the eighth round of their fight at 4am on 30 October 1974, supposedly bolstering the regime of the troubled nation’s despotic leader, Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga, who ruled from 1965 until 1997. Ali’s second coronation was completed in the home of his ancestors, a return to his roots, but it could be fairly argued that he played his part in extending the cruel governance of one of the poorest countries in the world. None of that concerned either Ali or Foreman – or the man who put the fight together, Don King . They were part of the fight game. A lot of bad things happened and are forgotten in the fight game. We are all master of our own actions, of course; Ali gave up three-and-a-half years of his career in defence of that principle, and risked prison by standing up for a religion as menacing as it was righteous.

Still, he chose to take $5m (a sum matched for Foreman) to fight in Mobutu’s Rumble in the Jungle, because it was Mobutu’s Rumble, really, not Ali’s. It was Ali who made it unique and he happily took the money that King scared up for them in London and Switzerland through Barclays Bank and the intervention of John Daly, a member of a well-known south London boxing family who would go on to become a Hollywood producer. Daly was the intermediary who pulled many of the interested parties together – and, as a prize, he got to commentate on the fight for Leon Gast’s celebrated film, When We Were Kings. Daly and the rest of us had to wait 22 years to hear and see his handiwork, however, because contractual disputes delayed release of the film – which won an Oscar. Its early screenings coincided with Ali lighting the flame for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, his once feared right hand, palsied by Parkinson’s Disease, quivering in front of a television audience of billions. He was back in centre ring, where he felt most safe.

As for the fight itself , Ali risked destruction by using slackened ropes to lean eccentrically out of reach , back arched, rendering him intermittently safe from the oak-tree arms of the hitherto unbeaten Foreman , draining George’s strength and self-belief until he picked the right moment to launch his quicksilver raid on the crude ogre’s chin. After soaking up Foreman’s best blows and misses, Ali came off the ropes to floor him with a final right hand that was just about perfect. The right that had decked Liston in their 1965 rematch, despite all suspicions, was probably of a similar force, except it was not so visible. There was no missing this blow. When Foreman wheeled and collapsed, his dazed head rising briefly from the canvas to see nothing but the ring lights and the jungle night, history had been rewritten . Ali told reporters he chose not to add another punch as Foreman fell, lest he spoil the symmetry of the descent. Maybe that was so. The Cassius Clay I adored when shadow-boxing in his image as a 10-year-old was back. He’d just changed his name – and his shape.

He didn’t move like an angel anymore, but he had delivered one more time, hadn’t he? Like he said he would. How could we ever have doubted him? Ali was the huckster who turned out to be real. He bullied you into believing in him . And the more he kept proving doubters wrong, the stronger was the conviction among the faithful that there would be no end to the miracles. For as long as he wanted to, he would keep winning. It was an illusion, naturally. We were all fools – including Ali. He thought he was invincible again. Soon he would be reminded of the consequences of his self-deception, not in defeat but in victory. What was to follow in the last superhuman effort of his career – victory after 14 brutal rounds against Joe Frazier in the closing episode of their trilogy – was a prelude to a gruesome ending. Even as he neared the exit, there were other signs of spiritual degradation. He was philandering on a grand scale, oblivious to the hurt he might be causing those close to him. He did not appear to care. It was as if he thought he was above normal judgment.

The man with so much love in him was giving too much of it away to the wrong people. His epic saga began to unravel messily, at first flirting with self-destruction in Manila, when Vietnam, the war in which he refused to fight, was moving towards a conclusion every bit as ugly as his own disintegration. The last round of the Vietnam struggle will be forever remembered in the image of retreat by over-loaded helicopters from the rooftop of the American Embassy in Saigon on 29 April 1975, with locals begging for passage, knowing the fate that awaited them as enemy troops moved through the streets of the southern capital. There was no righteousness left in the fight now, no more punches to throw. Like Ali, America and South Vietnam no longer had a quarrel with the Viet Cong. The final chapter of Ali’s nightmare, meanwhile, was 10 bruising pages from its conclusion. This is a revised extract from Kevin Mitchell’s latest book, How To Think Like Muhammad Ali, published by Aurum Press , on Thursday – the 40th anniversary of the Rumble in the Jungle.

As world marks 40 years since Muhammad Ali and George Foreman showdown, stadium that hosted it is falling apart Published: 31 Oct 2014 WATCH: Ali vs. Foreman in the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ | Heavy.com Share Tweet Share Email Follow The critics had no faith the 32-year-old Muhammad Ali would defeat George Foreman, seven years his junior, in the 1974 fight known as The Rumble in the Jungle. He was given 40-1 odds by some bookmakers before stepping into the ring in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). Ali knocked out Foreman, 25, in the eighth round using what would become known as the “rope-a-dope” strategy. He let Foreman wear himself out, landing hard blows, but mostly against Ali’s body rather than his head. Ali took out his opponent with a hard, straight right shot to the face and reclaimed the title of heavyweight champion and “King of the World.” The three-time heavyweight champion passed away on June 3.

He struggled with Parkinson’s Disease in the latter part of his life, but Ali’s fight against Foreman in Africa remains one of history’s greatest sporting events (watch the complete fight in the video above). The Rumble in the Jungle was one of the first fights organized by legendary boxing promoter, Don King. He promised each fighter $5 million, but he didn’t have the money. In return for staging the fight in Zaire, King secured the $10 million from Mobutu Sese Seko, the despotic president of Zaire, who seized power in the 1965 coup (and held power until 1997). The original tagline for the fight was “From the Slave Ship to the Championship,” but was shot down by Mobutu. Lloyd Price, who helped King promote the fight, told USA Today that the phrase “Rumble in the Jungle” came from one of Ali’s assistant trainers and a cornerman, Drew “Bundini” Brown, and Ali himself.

Prince remembers Brown saying, “Rumble, baby, rumble!” and then Ali said, “Rumble in the jungle.” Prior to the fight, Ali delivered one of his most famous hype speeches and a stirring poem calling out Foreman. Watch it below. Emily Morganis an independent entertainment journalist and senior contributor to Heavy. She has written for HNGN, EntertainmentWise and HollywoodLife. June 4, 2016 12:23 am How Muhammad Ali won 'Rumble in the Jungle' with rope-a-dope, video analysis and no sex How Muhammad Ali won 'Rumble in the Jungle' with rope-a-dope, video analysis and no sex Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman to win 'The Rumble in the Jungle' Jeremy Wilson , Deputy Football Correspondent 5 June 2016 • 2:48pm “I was the Concorde of boxing.

I was at a higher altitude than the rest, moving faster than the rest but you just have to get used to riding on jets again when you can’t ride Concorde anymore.” It is 42 years since Muhammad Ali soared to a higher altitude than any sportsman in history but, even now, his 'Rumble in the Jungle' with George Foreman retains its capacity both to mesmerise and surprise. Muhammad Ali, say his friends, was always at his sharpest first thing in the morning. Whether it was running through the hills of his Deer Lake training camp, writing poetry or, while speaking softly on the phone to close family members in the final years of his life, it was when he was at his most productive. Watch | Why Rumble in the Jungle is one of the greatest fights of all time 02:09 Never was this more gloriously evident than at 4.23am on the morning of Oct 30, 1974, when he landed the straight right–hand punch that knocked out Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. In the words of the novelist Thomas Hauser, it was a moment that "inspired more global joy than any athletic achievement in history".

Of the men in Ali's corner, only business manager Gene Kilroy and physician Ferdie Pacheco are still alive. Both now into their eighties, Kilroy still works in the casinos of Las Vegas and remained in almost daily contact with Ali and his family. He is the guy with the wild hair and big beige suit who was first into the ring when Ali regained the world heavyweight title. When Kilroy visited Ali's home in Arizona to celebrate a recent birthday, they watched a tape of the Foreman fight. Foreman attacks as Ali plays rope-a-dope Credit: AP "I told him that George wants a rematch," said Kilroy, smiling. "He turned to me and his eyes lit up but he whispered, 'He's not getting one'. He loved to watch the tapes of his fights.” Kilroy remembers Zaire vividly and still almost shivers at the thought of entering Foreman's dressing room in the minutes before the fight to see the champion's hands get taped.

Hugh McIlvanney, the doyen of British sportswriters, summed up the mood in a single sentence: "As we go to the stadium at that unreal hour we shall be hoping for a miracle but dreading a calamity." It was a feeling shared globally after Foreman had demolished two fighters in Joe Frazier and Ken Norton who were the only men to have beaten Ali. Rumble in the Jungle So what was really the feeling inside Ali's entourage in those moments before the fight? "My biggest fear was, suppose Ali got hurt,” says Kilroy. “How good are the hospitals in Zaire? What would we have to do? Go on an aeroplane and get to Paris. I discussed this with Ali and he said: 'Don't worry about me, worry about George’." Kilroy says that Ali's self-belief was underpinned, above all, by his Islamic faith. Two lesser known factors were also important. Ali's preparations for the fight had been inadvertently aided by a delay that kept him in the remote village of N'Sele, 40 miles outside of Kinshasa on the Zaire River, for 55 days before the fight.

Watch | Watch: Muhammad Ali's five best knockouts 01:01 "If that fight had been in America, he might not have been in such great shape," Kilroy says. "Being in Zaire, where people couldn't flog him, haul him here, haul him there, helped. We had our cooks, our own little village. It was like one big happy family." Ali's daily routine in Zaire involved a 4am run, breakfast, a late–morning movie, a nap, his daily afternoon training session in a makeshift gym, dinner and then a walk by the river before lights out at 10pm. He would complain that he missed “pretty girls and ice-cream”. Ali woke at 2am on the morning of the fight and was driven by bus with his entourage to the Stade Du 20 Mai, where 60,000 people had gathered. Foreman slumps to the floor as Ali lands the decisive blow Credit: AP "Everybody waved to him, he was at peace," Kilroy says. This was evident when Foreman kept Ali waiting.

Amid chants of 'Ali bomaye' (Ali kill him), more than 20 minutes elapsed between the challenger climbing into the ring and the fight starting. "He would not have cared if Foreman took an hour," Kilroy says. Ali's tactics have gone down in boxing folklore. He did largely lie on the ropes and allow Foreman to punch himself out but equally important was the aggression he showed early in the bout. Shortly before travelling to the stadium, Ali had asked to speak on the telephone to Cus D'Amato, the legendary trainer who would later inspire Mike Tyson to become the youngest heavyweight champion. "Cus was Ali's boxing mentor," Kilroy says. Ali mid-fight D'Amato told Ali that Foreman was a bully and that it was imperative he threw his first punch with "bad intentions" to make Foreman's strength his weakness. "Fear is like fire, it can burn your house down, or it can cook your food," D'Amato told Ali. He also took confidence from watching a video of Foreman knocking Frazier down six times to win the title. Kilroy says: "When Foreman knocked Joe down, George had his hands on the ropes in the neutral corner.

Ali said: 'No stamina. Wait till he hears round six, round seven, round eight’." Watch | George Foreman: losing to Muhammad Ali made me start looking for answers 05:13 The rest, of course, is history. Ali did knock Foreman out in the eighth round. A monsoon arrived an hour after the fight. Ali and his wife Belinda returned to N'Sele in the back of a Citroën with his entourage in the bus behind. "It was like the return of a victorious army," Pacheco says. "All through the jungle, people were lining up along the road with children in their arms, waiting for Ali in the pouring rain." At that moment in 1974, there was no more famous person in the world. In the same year, Kilroy still recalls walking through downtown New York with Ali. "New York stopped," he says. "Cars honked. People rushed to embrace him. He was no mere fighter then, he was the king of the world and he always had time for the poor and powerless. I remember a lady came by our camp in Zaire and said her son was sick.

Ali was the most famous person in the world in his prime "Ali said: 'We'll go visit him.' She took us to a leper colony. The staff would put the food down and walk away. Ali was soon lying down with the lepers, hugging them. I took about 10 showers when we got back. Ali just said: 'Don't worry about it, God's looking out for us.' He always had time for people." That quality also shines through in the most recent of the many films of his life – the 2014 production of I Am Ali – that was enriched by the inclusion of private family cassette recordings that Ali made during the late 1970s.

Hana, Ali's daughter, was three at the time and discovering these 90 hours of tapes "gave me back my childhood memories and made me laugh, smile and cry." Flashback: Ali, Foreman 'Rumble in the Jungle' xtras extras Flashback: Ali, Foreman 'Rumble in the Jungle' On this day 41 years ago, the world witnessed "The Greatest," Muhammad Ali, win his second heavyweight title after knocking out George Foreman, in Kinshasa, Zaire - in the fight billed as "The Rumble in the Jungle" The October 30th, 1974, edition of The Courier-Journal ran nine stories about this historic bout, highlighted by then-sports editor Dave Kindred's column, emploring readers to "celebrate his (Ali's) artistry." From the new Courier-Journal archive, we have pulled out the full text of the Oct. 30th column by Dave Kindred. (You can download the full .pdf of the story here .) Details Ali is a flame and Foreman is left in ashes By Dave Kindred, Courier-Journal Sports Editor Now, what was that chatter about George Foreman being invincible?

With four punches thrown in stunning succession, the last a right that sent the heavyweight champion into a slow tailspin that landed him on his back in center ring, Muhammad Ali knocked out foreman in the eighth round last night. We should celebrate his artistry. From Feb. 25, 1964, when Ali beat Sonny Liston to win the championship the first time, he has been applauded for his speed afoot, the grace of movement that made him as close to a living flame as man can be. To seem him work was to stand slack-jawed in wonder. Slogans seldom ring of truth, and Ali's "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" seemed to be an exaggeration - until Ali, in the ring, did precisely that. His victories were ballets. And then last night, Ali the artist created a masterpiece of another sort. Where once he eluded capture by running, moving, sliding, last night against a man regarded as a snorting brute by most of the civilized world - against a fighter who had knocked out his last eight opponents inside two rounds, Muhammad Ali chose to fight standing still. Standing STILL. On the ROPES. Just SITTING.

And foreman, could do nothing with him. Winner by a knockout in 37 of his 40 victories, Foreman never hit Ali hard enough to shake sweat from his brow. The strategy was as plain as it was beautiful. Ali would tire Foreman. He would allow the champion to throw all the punches he wanted, knowing full well that Foreman would never land. To avoid the rush, Ali simply moved a shoulder, simply raised an arm, tilted his head. Against a fighter of skill and experience, Ali's tactics would not work. But nowhere in the record book has Foreman given any evidence of sill beyond murderous strength. As for experience, Foreman has fought professionally five years - and Ali has been at it 14 years. Beyond mere chronological measure, it need be pointed out that Ali, above all heavyweight champions, has survived on guile and speed, cunning and endurance. Of those things, Foreman owns none. If Ali's defense was perfect last night, on the attack he was economical, precise and, in the end, overpowering. Foreman may have thrown - no, "thrown" is too strong a word; better we should say "lobbed" - three times as many punches as Ali.

But Ali's punches landed three times more often, stinging jabs, and surprisingly powerful rights. By the second round, the pattern the fight would take was established. At no cost of energy, Ali reclined on the ropes, occasionally flicking a left at Foreman. Befuddled, unable to find Ali with any punch worth the name, Foreman was reduced to pawing at him. By the fourth round, Foreman wa working on legs of rubber. It was as if he had in mind doing an impression of a drunk. He had this idea, see, and he wanted to hit this loudmouth on the next stool, see, and he'd wind up, see and really belt him one, see. If only get his arms to work right. In the fifth round - it was Foreman's first time past the fourth round since he went 10 against a wily veteran named Gregorio Peralta on May 10, 1971 - Foreman was done. He moved like a man in the 14th round, or the 76th. Once he took after Ali with wild windmiling punches that left him looking like a beginning swimmer going down for the third time.

Against a champion who was not in condition, against a champion whose skills were those of a promising amateur, against a champion who arrived at that lofty station by the willingness of Joe Frazier to be hit in the mouth a lot - against Foreman, the artist Muhammad Ali, creating his work with purity instead of flamboyance, was a joy to behold. Details Can't see the details? Log in below. If you’re already a subscriber, you’re all set! Simply log in or register to access. Returning Members: The Rumble in the Jungle (1974) - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The Rumble in the Jungle ( 1974 ) 1h 20min Thirty-Two year-old Muhammad Ali takes on what was at that time, one of the most powerful boxers in the history of the sport, in one last shot at greatness. Ali employs his "rope-a-dope" ...

See full summary » Stars: a list of 45 titles created 29 Dec 2012 a list of 127 titles created 19 Jun 2013 a list of 57 titles created 18 Nov 2013 a list of 176 titles created 09 Sep 2015 a list of 3123 titles created 5 months ago Title: The Rumble in the Jungle (1974) 8.5/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Directors: Albert Maysles, David Maysles Stars: Muhammad Ali, Drew Bundini Brown, Angelo Dundee Muhammad Ali is the best fighter! Directors: Joseph Consentino, Sandra Consentino Stars: Muhammad Ali, Khalilah 'Belinda' Ali, Rahman Ali The documentary story of Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)--the heavyweight boxing champion whose style and courage captured the imagination of the world.

Director: Jim Jacobs Explores the critical role that Miami played in the evolution of one of the most significant cultural figures of our time: Muhammad Ali (nÃ© Cassius Clay). Directors: Gaspar González, Alan Tomlinson Stars: Muhammad Ali, Sonny Armbrister, Harry Benson 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X He's the greatest fighter of all time. A sports icon that is loved throughout the world. A man driven by his ambition to be the best. Muhammad Ali is a name that to this day puts fear in ... See full summary » Director: William Klein Muhammad Ali stars as himself in this dramatised version of his life story up to the late 1970s. It includes his Olympic triumphs as Cassius Clay, his conversion to Islam, his refusal of ... See full summary » Director: Tom Gries The legal battles of the great American boxer against being conscripted into the US military during the Vietnam War. Director: Bill Siegel Ali's biggest match, his fight with the US government.

A film about the politics and hubris surrounding the Vietnam War and the revenge exacted on America's greatest sportsman of the 20th century because he refused to fight in that war. Director: Stephen Frears Ten of Muhammad Ali 's former rivals pay tribute to the three-time world heavyweight champion. Director: Pete McCormack Edit Storyline Thirty-Two year-old Muhammad Ali takes on what was at that time, one of the most powerful boxers in the history of the sport, in one last shot at greatness. Ali employs his "rope-a-dope" tactic for the first time, but will it be enough to recapture the greatest prize in boxing? Sometimes more entertaining than the actual fight are some of the press conferences Ali held before the fight. Written by Classic Camp <lbcamp1@yahoo.com> One of boxing's most celebrated upsets. Genres: The greatest upset of all time... 28 March 2010 | by poe426 (USA) – See all my reviews When then Cassius Clay outboxed brooding career criminal Sonny Liston in 1964, it was considered one of the greatest upsets in boxing history.

A study in perpetual motion, Clay took the fight to his senior opponent from the opening bell. So-called boxing experts were shocked into stunned silence by the disrespectful display: dropping both hands, Clay taunted Liston first with "an easy target" (and countering the champion's uncertain attempts to capitalize on it) and then by verbally taunting him in front of a worldwide audience as well. Even when Liston managed to temporarily blind Clay by getting ointment from his gloves into Clay's eyes (Liston can be clearly seen, on several occasions, actually placing a glove against Clay's face and then WIPING the glove across his face), it was all for naught: Clay not only cleared his eyes, but came back at Liston even more furiously in the next round. It was a humbling experience. Liston quit on his stool. In 1974, Ali was 32 and had 2 losses on his record (to Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, who had both been knocked out by champion George Foreman). Ali's chances of beating Foreman- who had been likened to a younger and stronger version of his idol, Sonny Liston- were approximately one billion to zilch.

In the 2 aforementioned losses, Ali had been on the receiving end of two severe beatings (for 15 rounds against Frazier, getting knocked flat on his back in the 15th round, and having his jaw broken by Norton). Although he had avenged both losses, the rematches had gone the grueling 12-round distance. Foreman, shocking the world, had stopped Frazier in 2 brutal rounds, dropping him 3 times in both the first and the second rounds to become champion. Norton had been felled in 2 as well, going down 3 times in the second round before the referee mercifully stopped the slaughter. Ali, now the number one contender after the back-to-back decision wins over Norton and Frazier, was in line for a title shot. Few held out much hope; there were even those who felt that Foreman might literally KILL his elder opponent. Foreman, deadpan as was his wont, put it simply: "I'm gonna make like an exorcist and BEAT the Devil out of him." So he thought.

Casting caution to the wind, Ali swarmed all over the bigger, stronger champion from the opening bell, driving sharp right hand leads to the head. Foreman, perhaps the most fearsome puncher in the history of heavyweight boxing, was clearly surprise by the assault and trudged after his elusive assailant- who would stop suddenly and throw a solid combination to the head, tie him up, and then move away again. Without preamble, Ali would put up his hands and drop back against the ropes, a suddenly stationary target. Foreman would wade in, wind up- and be nailed with yet another piston-like combination before being tied up by Ali again. Foreman seemed to shrug most of these blows off in the early going, but they were landing cleanly and a mouse appeared below one of Foreman's eyes. Unconvinced that he could lose to Ali- the world press had said so, after all, and they were boxing experts-, Foreman continued to wade in with heavy-handed haymakers that sometimes found their mark. But Ali had learned long ago how to roll with a punch or to smother it, how to play the ropes, how to tie up and outwrestle a stronger opponent.

It was a crash course in the finer points of boxing and Foreman was proving to be a slow learner. (Not that Foreman was ever just a puncher: he'd shown, time and again, that he knew how to inflict some serious damage on an opponent, but he'd also shown some more than rudimentary boxing skills along the way. He didn't waste punches but threw them economically, winding up whenever he felt he needed just that added bit of torque required to bring down a wall. When it came to Force equals Mass times Acceleration, Foreman was the Einstein of Punching. And he was unloading all of his ordinance on Ali.) Ali leaned forward to provoke an attack, rolled back against the ropes to avoid the incoming barrage, and then tied up or countered with combinations. The strategy worked, and Foreman began to visibly tire. Ali coasted, taking his time, and his trainers grew more and more frantic. Ali bided his time- and then caught the weary, stumbling champion with a sudden, sharp combination that sent him toppling like a felled tree to the canvas. For MY money, this was the single greatest upset in the history of heavyweight boxing (though Jim Braddaock's win over Max Baer comes close).

(Douglas-Tyson ain't even in the running, as Tyson's record had been built mostly against retirees coming out of retirement or guys just out of rehab- or headed there.) The commentary on this fight is mostly of the fast-forward variety, though anything said by Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee should be given special attention. The ten is for The Fight itself. 2 of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Revisiting 'The Rumble in the Jungle' 40 years later Revisiting 'The Rumble in the Jungle' 40 years later Fresh perspective and little-told facts on the anniversary of Ali's stunning victory of Foreman. Post to Facebook Revisiting 'The Rumble in the Jungle' 40 years later Fresh perspective and little-told facts on the anniversary of Ali's stunning victory of Foreman. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: CancelSend A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

3 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Revisiting 'The Rumble in the Jungle' 40 years later Josh Peter , USA TODAY Sports Published 8:29 p.m. ET Oct. 29, 2014 | Updated 12:28 p.m. ET Oct. 30, 2014 Muhammad Ali turned fans in Zaire against his opponent, George Foreman, the defending heavyweight champion. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images) About four months ago, when Muhammad Ali was sitting in his favorite armchair where he watches old Westerns and film clips of himself, his daughter Hana handed him the phone. It was George Foreman. "His eyes were big," Hana Ali recalled of her father. "And he was just happy and excited and talking about his kids. "They had the cutest conversation." That they had any conversation would have been unthinkable 40 years ago. It was Oct.

30, 1974, when Ali knocked out Foreman in the eighth round in Zaire — now the Democratic Republic of the Congo — in one of the biggest sporting events ever, "The Rumble in the Jungle." Muhammad Ali's condition not so dire, his daughters say Interviews with people involved in the fight and close to Ali reveal fresh perspective and little-told facts, such as Ali's secret marriage a week before he stepped into the ring and how Ali and Foreman went from hating each other to being the closest of friends. FROM SLAVE SHIP TO THE RUMBLE "We first were going to call it 'From Slave Ship to Championship,'" said Lloyd Price, who worked with promoter Don King on the event. "I thought that would have been a tremendous idea because of the event itself and what the intent of it was, to take a lot of African-Americans back to Africa who had never been there." Price was in charge of a pre-fight concert featuring the likes of James Brown, B.B. King, The Spinners and a host of other black music stars headed back to their ancestral roots. But Hank Schwartz, a partner in the company that owned the promotional rights and was televising the fight, nixed the title.

"Hank thought that we would not get a world audience by saying 'From Slave Ship to Championship,'" Price said. So where did "The Rumble in the Jungle" come from? Price traces it back to Drew "Bundini" Brown, one of Ali's assistant trainers and a cornerman who Price remembers saying, "Rumble, baby, rumble!" "And then," Price recalled, "Ali just said, 'Rumble in the Jungle.' " GALLERY: THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE Last Slide Next Slide BRANDING FOREMAN A BELGIAN Ali famously called Foreman "a Belgian" in Zaire, branding him the enemy in a country ruled by Belgium from 1908 to 1960. His longtime business manager, Gene Kilroy, said he was involved in the scheme. "We're getting off the airplane," Kilroy recalled, "and Ali said to me, 'Who don't they like here?' I said, 'I guess they don't like white people.' "He said, 'I can't tell him Foreman's a white man.

Who else?' I said, 'The Belgians.'" With the press corps and thousands of Africans waiting on the tarmac, according to Kilroy, Ali held his fingers by his lips to quiet the chants of "Ali, Ali!" Then, Ali told the crowd: "George Foreman's a Belgium (sic)." Said Kilroy: "And they yelled, 'Ali, bomaye! Ali, bomaye!' I said to our interpreter, 'What is this?' He said, 'That means, 'Ali, kill him. Ali, kill him.' Because they didn't like the Belgians." Boxers imitate famous Muhammad Ali quotes Foreman said the bigger issue was his German shepherd, Dago, which was the breed Belgium security forces used to police indigenous Africans. "They said people feared the dog," Foreman said. "And I said, 'My goodness, they've got hyenas and lions over there, and they're afraid of a German shepherd?' It doesn't make sense." Foreman also said that when crowds followed him he heard a different chant: "Foreman, kill him!

Foreman kill him!" SECRET MARRIAGE CEREMONY Although Ali was married to his second wife at the time, he married Veronica Porche in a private religious ceremony at Ali's villa in Zaire a week before the fight, according to Porche. "It was quiet, nobody was there," said Porche, who was 18 at the time. "Something inside me made it OK because I loved him. That's how I felt." Porche said the man who married them was African and she assumed he was Muslim based on what Ali asked her before the ceremony. "He said, 'Do you submit to the will of God?'" Porche recalled. "I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'OK, well then you're a Muslim.' He wanted to have this little Muslim (marriage) ceremony." One of four "poster girls" helping to promote the fight, Porche said she first met Ali at a charity event in Salt Lake City. But they didn't grow acquainted until meeting again in Zaire, according to Porche, who said she knew Ali was married.

"He told me he was getting divorced," Porche said, adding that Ali's brother confirmed the marital problems and noting that Ali's wife, Khaliliah Camacho-Ali, was staying at a hotel while Ali was living at the training camp. "So it seemed to match up." Camacho-Ali said Ali told her about the affair with Porche but not the marriage. "I was always aware of what was happening," said Camacho-Ali, who divorced Ali in 1977. "Ali told me everything." Porche's marriage to Ali became legal in the United States when they wed in Los Angeles in 1977. Nine years later, she divorced him after tiring of behavior that, from a different vantage point, she first witnessed in Zaire. "The major reason was, and everyone knows, that he fooled around," Porche said. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images) THE CUT Eight days before the scheduled bout, Foreman suffered a cut over his right eye during a sparring session. Bob Goodman, Ali's publicist, said he got a call from Foreman's manager, Dick Sadler, to inspect the cut.

"It was a pretty deep cut and (Sadler) said, 'What do you think?'" Goodman recalled. "I said, 'I think we're going to have to get this fixed up and postpone the fight. And all of the sudden I'm hearing sirens." It was Mandunga Bula, a Zaire minister who was the government official supervising the fight. "He's outside the dressing room door and I'm inside with Foreman and Sadler and he says, 'Mr. Goodman, I hear there's a problem. What has happened?'" Goodman said. "I said, 'Well, Mr. Bula, I hate to tell you but George Foreman's been cut and I'm going to have to reach Don King … to get together and seeing about postponing the fight. "He says, 'It's impossible! The fight will take place as scheduled!' I said, 'I don't think so. This is a bad cut.' We let him in to look at the cut so he'd know it was really a cut.

But it would be up to like a five- or six-week postponement." Over the years, Foreman has heard stories that he wanted to train in Paris after the cut and the Zaire government refused to let him leave because they feared he would not return. A total fabrication, according to Foreman, although he said he accepts responsibility for provoking fears that he would not fight Ali. During negotiations before the fight, Foreman said, King promised him $500,000 on top of the guaranteed $5 million. At the time of the cut, the $5 million was secured in a bank and due Foreman upon completion of the fight. But he said he had yet to see the $500,000 and realized he suddenly had leverage. "I told (King) if I didn't get my money, my half million dollars, there was not going to be a fight," said Foreman, adding that panicked government officials met with him and King then told him his money could be picked up in London. Foreman said he dispatched a cousin and a business manager to London and he reached them several days later when they'd made it home to the United States — with an empty briefcase.

Foreman said he still had no intention of walking away from the $5 million payday. He also said he thought he could force King to pay up because the promoter would need him for a fight after he beat Ali. "That's how confident I was," he said. With a laugh, King said he didn't recall the events Foreman described, but that he would not dispute the story. "I love George Foreman," he said. "Foreman is just a heckuva guy. He was iconoclastic in those days. "In the end, I think he did get $500,000 more than Ali got." (Photo: Troy Taormina, USA TODAY Sports) A MISTRESS UNDER SUSPICION Khalilah Camacho-Ali isn't the only one who was suspicious of Porche when she heard her husband had taken an interest in the 18-year-old "poster girl." Members of Ali's training camp were suspicious of something else. "All of his entourage was saying that I was a spy the George Foreman camp had sent over," Porche said. The final week of training, Porche said, Ali sent her to a remote hotel to keep himself focused.

She said she wanted to provide him with inspiration, so she handed a sealed enveloped to Howard "Pat" Patterson, Ali's bodyguard, and asked him to make sure Ali read the note before the fight. "Pat later told me that they were afraid to give it to him," she said. But, according to Porche, the bodyguard did give it to Ali after opening the envelope and seeing what she had written: Win or lose, I love you. FOREMAN'S CONFESSION "I was trying to kill him," Foreman said of Ali. "I wasn't looking for a knockout, because if you're looking for a knockout, you use your skill. I didn't do that. I was trying desperately to destroy that man." Ali probably knew as much, based on remarks he made before the two agreed to fight, according to Foreman. "He was doing an interview," Foreman said. "I'd just knocked Kenny Norton out and someone else, and (Ali) said, 'George Foreman's no boxer. He's trying to kill people.

That's not boxing.' And I was so ashamed because he knew the truth." ROPE-A-DOPE After the fight, Foreman complained about the ropes being loose — a critical factor as Ali leaned back against them to evade Foreman's punches. "The ropes, which were brand new ropes, if they're left out in heat and humidity, the first couple of times you use them, they're going to stretch out," Goodman said. "So we had told them, 'Don't even tighten the ropes. Just leave them with the turnbuckles completely extended,' so when it came time to do the fight, you'd have plenty of room to take up the slack. And sure enough, they didn't do it." Goodman said he and Dundee took up the slack, cut the ropes with razor blades and taped up the edges as Foreman's trainers and cornerman watched. "They thought we were nuts, trying to fix this ring up that'd been left out in the heat and humidity," Goodman said. During the first couple of fights on the undercard, the ropes stretched and the padded floor was spongy.

"(Ali) had already decided after round one that he couldn't get up on his toes and dance and prance in that ring with the soft padding," Goodman said. "And then when he went on the ropes, when George Foreman came at him on the ropes, and he leaned back and Foreman missed, he put two-and-two together and he said, 'Ah, that's going to be my strategy. I'm going to tire George out that way.' "And the Rope-a-Dope was born." Said Foreman: "In other words, (Ali) stayed on the ropes and I, like a dope, kept throwing punches. I was the dope." (Photo: Associated Press) THE BLOWN CALL After the fight, there was some controversy about whether it was a "quick-count," if referee Zach Clayton reached the count of 10 and waved off the fight before Foreman had sufficient time to get up. Bob Sheridan, who served as lead broadcaster for the fight that was telecast on closed circuit and reportedly reached one billion viewers, would like to make an admission. "I blew the call," he said. It started with his positioning, according to Sheridan.

Rather than being set up on the apron as was customary, he and a small army of color commentators were pushed back about 10 feet from the ring. "When Foreman went down, I couldn't hear the guy who counts for the knockdowns and what number he was on," he said. Suddenly many people were confused. At the time Sheridan reached a count of eight, Clayton was waving off the fight on a knockout. And all ensuring controversy? "All anybody had to do was ask me what happened," Sheridan said. "There's no question it was a full 10 count, a full 10 seconds." (Photo: AP) FLAT ON HIS BACK Entering his fight with Ali, Foreman was 40-0 and had never been knocked down, much less knocked out. Price, one of the promoters, said he'll never forget what he saw at Intercontinental Hotel in Kinshasa the morning after the fight. "George Foreman took a mirror and laid down in the lobby so he could see what he looked like with him being on his back," Price said. But Foreman said he was less demoralized by being knocked out than failing to knock out Ali.

"I just knew no one could stand up to my punch," he said. "But Muhammad did. His taking those punches, I went away thinking, 'What is going on here? That's not supposed to happen.' That bothered me more than anything." HEART TO HEART Hana Ali, one of the boxer's seven daughters, said her father gave her 60 hours of taped phone conversations. One of her favorites is a hourlong talk her father had with Foreman in 1979 — two years after Foreman had a religious experience that led to his quitting boxing and taking up preaching, at the same time Ali was entering the twilight of his career and, in retrospect, showing early signs of Parkinson's disease. "George Foreman begins by warning my father not to do these boxing exhibitions that are going to lead him back to the ring," Hana said, "and he doesn't want him there. He said, 'I had a dream,' and he's telling him, 'God doesn't want you in the ring.

You need to stop.' My dad says, 'It's just a boxing exhibition.' And he goes, 'No, stop now because it's going to lead apparently to something else.' And then, of course, my father only follows his own mind." Ali would fight twice more competitively, and family members wonder if those bouts contributed to his Parkinson's disease. Foreman returned to boxing in 1987, fought for another decade and in 1994 won the heavyweight championship of the world when at age 45 he beat Michael Moorer, then 26, and reclaimed the title he lost 20 years earlier. He received a congratulatory letter from his old nemesis. "Can you imagine that?" Foreman said during a recent interview with USA TODAY Sports. "Who would think almost 20 years later, there's Muhammad, my conqueror, congratulating me in fighting for the championship of the world and winning it." GALLERY: THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE Last Slide Next Slide BROTHER'S KEEPER In 1989, Foreman and Ali were in England with Joe Frazier, Kenny Norton and Larry Holmes as part of a "Champions Forever" tribute.

It was five years after Ali had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. "He was still mouthy," Foreman said. "And he made a statement, and it was on the front of some London paper, that 'God is black.' They had a picture of him on the front page, and Frazier didn't like it. Frazier didn't like Muhammad.'' Later, Foreman recalled, the boxers were putting on tuxedos for a photo shoot. "(Ali) came down and he was alone," Foreman said. "He couldn't put on his cuff links. He couldn't even put the bow tie around his neck. And I made certain there wasn't any cameras around and I took him in the room and I fixed him up because I wanted to make sure they see the beautiful Muhammad Ali." Frazier saw what happened, and on a ride back from the event that night, he was livid, according to Foreman. "Frazier said, 'Don't help him. Don't help him. Where are all those people that were screaming Ali? Where are all those hangers-on now? Nobody better help him. Leave him alone.'" Foreman said.

"And I remember telling him, 'Joe, we are our brother's keeper.' "There I was for the first time protecting what I was trying to destroy." CLOSE

Question: Who fought George Foreman in the Rumble In The Jungle?
Answer: Muhammad Ali